Crete spiny mouse
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Crete spiny mouse ( Acomys minous ) |
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| Acomys minous | ||||||||||||
| Bate , 1906 |
The Crete spiny mouse ( Acomys minous ) is a mammal from the long-tailed mouse family . The species is endemic to Crete , but the species status is controversial.
Mark
Like all species of the genus Acomys, the Crete spiny mouse is significantly larger and heavier than the house mouse . Like all spiny mice, it has noticeably large ears and eyes, a tapering snout, a body-length, scaled tail and a back fur made of stiff, spiky hair. The head-trunk length is 90–128 mm, the tail length 89–120 mm, the length of the hind foot 18–20 mm and the ear length 16–20 mm. The animals weigh 30-86 g. The fur is almost monochrome gray on the upper side, more gray-red on the flanks. The underside is sharply set off white.
distribution and habitat
The species is endemic to Crete. The animals live there on dry, rocky slopes with steppe vegetation and maquis from sea level to around 1000 m. The species also occurs in houses, especially in winter.
Systematics
The Crete spiny mouse is currently recognized as a separate species, but this species status is controversial. Lineage leads to both the Egyptian spiny mouse ( Acomys cahirinus ) and the Turkish spiny mouse ( Acomys cilicicus ). The morphological differences to the other two species and to the Cyprus spiny mouse ( Acomys nesiotes ) are slight. All four types could therefore be conspecific . There are no fossil or subfossil finds of the type on Crete from the early Pliocene , when Crete was separated from the mainland, which suggests that it was only introduced into Crete by sea trade in ancient times. A similar history of distribution is assumed for the Cyprus spiny mouse. There is one breed of spiny mouse in Crete with 36 and a second with 38 chromosomes.
Way of life
Crete spiny mice are crepuscular and nocturnal. They climb very well, when running fast the tail is often lifted over the back. The animals live in small social groups in which one female is dominant. Crete spiny mice are omnivores , but mostly plant-based food in the form of seeds predominates.
Existence and endangerment
The Cretan spiny mouse is widespread in Crete and is probably common locally, there is no evidence of population decline. Due to the unsecured species status , the IUCN only indicates the degree of endangerment of the population as “data deficient”.
swell
literature
- Stéphane Aulagnier, Patrick Haffner, Anthony J. Mitchell-Jones, François Moutou, Jan Zima: The mammals of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. The destination guide. Haupt, Bern et al. 2009, ISBN 978-3-258-07506-8 , pp. 240–241.
- Anthony J. Mitchell-Jones, Giovanni Amori, Wieslaw Bogdanowicz, Boris Krystufek, PJH Reijnders, Friederike Spitzenberger, Michael Stubbe, Johan BM Thissen, Vladimiŕ Vohralik, Jan Zima: The Atlas of European Mammals. Poyser, London, 1999, ISBN 0-85661-130-1 , pp. 292-293.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b The Crete spiny mouse on the IUCN Red List
- ↑ Pierre-Olivier Barome, Petros Lymberakis, Monique Monnerot & Jean-Claude Gautun: Cytochrome b Sequences Reveal Acomys minous (Rodentia, Muridae) Paraphyly and Answer the Question about the Ancestral Karyotype of Acomys dimidiatus. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 18, 1, pp. 37-46, January 2001 doi : 10.1006 / mpev.2000.085
Web links
- Acomys minous in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2009. Posted by: Amori, G., Hutterer, R., Krystufek, B., Yigit, N., Mitsain, G. & Palomo, LJ, 2008. Accessed on 19th December 2009.